1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a sheet processing apparatus and an image forming system, and particularly, relates to folding processing on a sheet.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, computerization of information has been promoted. In the computerization, image processing apparatuses, such as printers and facsimiles used for outputting computerized information and scanners used for computerizing documents, have become indispensable instrument. Such image processing apparatuses are mostly structured as multifunction peripherals that can be used as printers, facsimiles, scanners, and copying machines with an image capturing function, an image forming function, and a communication function, for example, provided therein.
In such multifunction peripherals, a multifunction peripheral is known in which a sheet is fed and an image is drawn on the sheet by image forming, and thereafter folding processing is performed on the sheet on which the image has been formed by a folding processing apparatus included in the multifunction peripheral.
In such a folding processing apparatus, the following procedure is performed prior to the folding processing. A sheet is conveyed in a dedicated path along which the folding processing is performed. The sheet conveyed along the path is subjected to registration correction and then conveyed by a certain distance so as to adjust the position of the sheet. Thereafter, bending is formed at a folding position of the sheet. In the folding processing, the folding processing apparatus further conveys the sheet in which the bending is formed in such a manner that the position of the bending is not shifted so as to transfer the bending portion, and then sandwiches the transferred bending from both sides.
For performing such processing, the folding processing apparatus generally includes a plurality of driving mechanisms such as a mechanism for conveying a sheet in the path, a mechanism for the registration correction, a mechanism for forming the bending at a folding position, and a mechanism for sandwiching the transferred bending from both sides. A conventional technique is described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2007-070095, for example.
The conventional folding processing apparatus performs the folding process on a sheet as described above by independently driving the driving mechanisms. The conventional folding processing apparatus, thus, needs to include a driving source such as a motor for driving a driving mechanism, for each of the above-described driving mechanisms.
The conventional folding processing apparatus needs to arrange driving sources for the respective driving mechanisms, thereby increasing the size of the apparatus due to the space required for the driving sources. In addition, a control system is required to control the driving sources, resulting in a complicated structure of the apparatus. As a result, a problem arises in that initial and running costs are increased.
In view of the above-described conventional problems, there is a need to provide a low cost folding processing apparatus that has a compact and simple structure and performs the folding processing on a sheet.